Improvement in the manufacture of kerite from gums and oils



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. I

AUSTIN Gr. DAY, OF NEW YORK, N Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF KERITE FROM GUMS AND OILS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 210,408, dated December 3, 1878; application filed March 8, 1877.

CASE B.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, AUSTIN G. DAY, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Compound termed Artificial Oaoutchouc or Kerite, which is described in Letters Patent of the United States granted to me on the 9th day of October, 1866, and reissued to me on the 19th of October, 187 5, and which was designed chiefly as a substitute for natural caoutchouc and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of my said improved compound and of the manner of producing the same.

Other Letters Patent of the United States have been issued to me for the process by which I make my new compound.

The object of this invention is to produce with greater ease and certainty, to render more definite and specific, and to materially improve the qualities and value of my former compound above referred to, so that my present product may be employed with better results than the former one could be, either as an economical substitute, when desired, for natural caoutehouc, or for mixing with the latter to form, at a diminishedcost, a composition capable of taking the place of iudia-rubber compounds.

The essential ingredients used in making my present compound are Cotton-seed oil, linseed-oil, coal -tar or its hereinafter stated equivalent, and sulphur; and the substance of the method by which I combine them with each other to make the product is, to first mix together and heat the cotton-seed oil and coal-tar, or equivalent, and, after they have properly combined, to add the linseed-oil to the heated mixture, and then put in the sulphur and increase the temperature of the whole to such extent and for such length of time as will produce vulcanization of the mass.

Another feature of my improvement, which is of great importance in producing the best and most certain practical results, consists in combining with the united cotton-seed oil, linseed-oil, and coal-tar a proper quantity of wax, in the manner and for the purpose hereinafter fully described. I may also sometimes mix with the wax, for the same purpose, in the proportions hereinafter set forth, either paraffine or the substance called ozocerite, which is a kind of mineral wax.

Without the above-stated ingredients, and without substantially the treatment referred to, the improved product I contemplate cannot be adapted for practical business purposes; but with these ingredients and this treatment there may be employed a great variety of other articles and a wide variation in the proportions in which they are used, and

also in the temperatures and times of heating adopted. These will cause differences in the compound produced, and these differences will extend through quite a wide range, and will increase and largely diversify the number of useful purposes for which the product may be employed; but they will be found to be differences in degree and not in kind, so that under substantially all circumstances the essential ingredients and process by which the result is obtained will be the above-stated combination of cotton-seed oil, coal-tar or equivalent, linseed-oil, and sulphur, treated in the method herein described.

To make my improved compound, I first mix the cotton-seed oil and coal-tar together in a suitable kettle or boiler, under a suitable heat, and for a sufficient length of time to cause them to unite together freely and thoroughly. The temperature ordinarily required for this purpose will be about 300 to 330 Fahrenheit, and the time generally from three to five hours. The mixture is then cooled down to, say, from 200 to 220, or sometimes to only 240, Fahrenheit, or thereabout, and then the linseed-oil may be added.

To obtain the best result, however, I let the cotton-seed oil and coal-tar stand over night to cool. If this course be adopted, they will be found in the morning to be thoroughly combined, and I then heat them up to the abovespecified temperature of from 200 to 220, or sometimes 240, Fahrenheit, and then add the requisite quantity of linseed-oil. When the linseed-oil has become thoroughly incorporatedwith the other ingredients, which usually takes about one to two hours, I add the sulphur, which I generally commence to do when the mixture is at a temperature of about 230 Fahrenheit, and introduce it gradually, and then, as it combines with the other ingredients, I usually raise the temperature to about 27 5 to 300 Fahrenheit, or in that vicinity, the degree of temperature depending largely upon the length of heating-time employed.

The heating of the compound may be eon tinned until vulcanization of the mass takes place-say, in the case of a usual working batch of about one hundred pounds, for from five to ten hours, or sometimes longer.

\Vhen the vulcanization is complete the compound is finished, and it may then be poured into molds or pans of any desired dimensions, and allowed to cool for use or for the market.

It frequently happens, unless great watchfulness and care are employed, that the action of the sulphur, when or after it begins to combine with the oils, is so rapid as to produce a sudden and greatincrease in the temperature, which is caused by the generation of chemical heat, and which results in cooking or overheating the compound to such an extent as to seriouslyimpair its properties, and this is particularly noticeable when the compound comes to be mixed with natural rubber. To obviate this difficulty I add a suitable quantity of vegetable wax or purifiedlanimal wax-say, in the proportion of seven ounces, or thereabout, to every pound of sulphur employed. I prefer to add the wax after the sulphur is putin, and while the compound is at a temperature of about 250 to 280 Fahrenheit, or, in other words, before the compound has acquired too great consistency; but it may be added at the same time or just before the sulphur is put in. The effect of the wax is to prevent the too rapid action of the sulphur and consequent generation of chemical heat, and hence to insure a perfect and reliable product in every, or almost every, instance.

If desired, paraffine may be advantageously mixed with the wax to prevent this too rapid action of the sulphur. When this is done I recommend that about eight ounces of the wax and paraffine, mixed together in about equal proportions, be used to every pound of sulphur. IVhen vegetable wax alone is employed I generally use a slightly smaller quantity-say, about seven ounces to the pound of sulphur, as above specified.

If ozocerite be mixed with the vegetable wax I find that good results will be obtained when the mixture is in the proportion of about five ounces of ozocerite and about three ounces of wax to every pound of sulphur.

For the same purposes the ozocerite may also be made to take place of both wax and parafiine mixed together and of wax alone. In this case I recommend the employment of eight ounces, or thereabout, of it to the pound of sulphur.

As above stated, the proportions of the ingredients may be greatly varied but I recommend, as adapted to produce a compound suitable for most ordinary purposes, twenty-seven pounds of cotton-seed oil mixed with thirty pounds of coal-tar, to which may be added twenty-seven pounds of linseed-oil and from twelve to sixteen pounds, or thereabout, of sulphur. The sulphur 1 preferably employ in the form of the ordinary brimstone of commerce.

I also may sometimes add to the compound, when itis at a temperature of from 200 to 27 0 or 280 Fahrenheit, or thereabout, say, from one to two ounces of gum-camphor, as I finditbeneticial in mixingthe other ingredients, but itis not essential to the invention and it will some times be found to be of considerable importance, though not essential, to add to the ingredients during the process of making the compound, and when it is at a temperature of about 230 to 240 Fahrenheit, a small quantity-say, one to three ounces, or thereabout of sulphuric, nitric, or muriatic acid, either of which may be employed, though I prefer nitric acid. Its use will somewhat hasten or intensify the action of the ingredients in uniting with each other, and will often be beneficial.

I have also obtained very desirable results by adding to the mixture a little oxide of iron. This should be introduced in a powder, and the form in which I prefer to employ it is the sesquioxide. It may be put in when the compound is at a temperature of 230 Fahrenheit, or thereabout, and the proportion which will answer well'for the examples above given will be about one pound.

I wish it to be understood that when coaltar is mentioned in this specification I prefer that it should be liquid coal-tar, such, for instance, as is ordinarily made at gas-works. In

, its usual condition at such works this substance is adapted for employment in making my compound. It may therefore be taken as substantially a standard or example of the character and condition of this ingredient as it should preferably be for use in my process.

The substance known as pitch or coaltar pitch might also be employed; but, when it is, it is preferable that light or heavy oils, or both, should be added to it until it is as near as may be in substantially the same condition as the above-referred-to liquid coal-tar. Any practical chemist will know how to do this.

It may sometimes be diflicult to procure coaltar, and when it is the bitumens may be substituted for it. In case any bitumen which may be selected is not already in substantially the same condition as liquid coal-tar in respect to the presence in or with it of the light or heavy oils, it should preferably, before being used, be brought to that condition, which the chemist can readily do. The same proportions of the bitumens as of the coal-tar should be used. Or if a bitumen is mixed with ooaltar, which may be done, if desired, asmuch of it should be employed as will equal the amount of coal-tar for which it is substituted.

It will thus be seen that coal-tar, pitch, and the bitumens are, for the purpose of myinvention, the equivalent of coal-tar.

It will be observed that in putting together the ingredients which compose my compound I introduce the linseed-oil after the cottonseed oil and coal-tar have been mixed. This will be found of great importance to the character and quality of the resulting compound, and to effect a great improvement in it as compared with the introduction of the linseed-oil at an earlier stage of the process.

This mode of making my compound, whether as respects the ingredients employed or the mannerof treating them, will be found to be a definite and specific rule of practical application, and the compound which is the result of this process will possess the very valuable qualities of elasticity, flexibility, indestructibility, imperviousness to water, and the capacity to withstand heat and cold and the action of acids, alkalies, and the solvents of rubber.

In respect of its elasticity and flexibility this compound closely resembles natural indiarubber, while in regard to its other qualities mentioned it is greatly-superior to rubber.

It may be put to use in the arts by being employed alone as a direct substitute for natural rubber for many of the less important purposes to which india-rubber is applied; but I generally prefer to mix it with rubber in the manner and for the purposes described in other Letters Patent of the United States of even date herewith.

It is important to remark that, although the materials and the generic mode of treatment set forth in this specification are referred to in the hereinbefore-mentioned Letters Patent granted to me October 9, 1866, and reissued to me October 19, 1875, there is a substantial and clearly-distingnishable difference between the quality and value of the product made inaccordance with the directions and the specific and definite ingredients here given and that which will be obtained by following my previous patent. The process and product described in the latter are entirely successful so far as the result they involve' extends, and it extends over an important part of the further and better result here accomplished; but the compound which is the product of the hereinstated ingredients and process is a substantial improvement upon my former one, although it is to be used for the-same general purpose.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The within described specific vulcanized compound, composed of vegetable or mineral oils, a resinous body or bodies, and sulphur, substantially as set forth.

A. J. DEL/AC1, JOHN J. DIXON. 

